2023-07-18 04:09:00
People are spending more and more time in their garden and the robot lawn mower is now one of those lawn care tools that are gaining increasing popularity in this huge market. Its invention, we owe it to André Colens, an engineer from Rixensart. It was in the early 90s that he invented the principle of the robot lawn mower. In 1991, he filed a patent for the autonomous (solar) mower “and at the end of December 1992, he sold his first patents to Husqvarna, recalls Michel Coenraets. What André Colens was producing then was a small robot that ran on solar energy.”
André Colens also had the patents for larger machines. Americans and Germans were very interested and this is where Michel Coenraets, also from Rixensartois, comes in: “We are in 2002 and a few months earlier, I had just sold Automatic Systems (see attached) and I was president of the Union wallonne des entreprises, I said to myself that it was not possible that in Belgium, we could not be interested in this kind of machine. I started looking for a company that might be of interest and finally, I told André Colens that it was better that I take care of it. That’s how I started Belrobotics.”
Obstruct Husqvarna
Archive photo of André Colens, here in 2006, engineer and inventor of the robot lawn mower. ©EdA
André Colens claimed a few million for his patents, a sum that Michel Coenraets could not advance: “The price was too high, especially since there was no market yet. Without going into details, this is the reason why I asked André Colens to join the board of directors. , it allowed me to interest him in the profits of the company and to pay less for the patent.”
In April 2002, Belrobotics acquired the license to use the patents of André Colens relating to robotic lawn mowers with power exceeding 120 watts (and automatic golf ball collection machines) for an amount of 1 million euros.
Under the conditions upon signature of the contract, Belrobotics undertakes to take over the stock of machines and parts as well as the staff employed by André Colens’ company, including its software engineer and two technicians.
The company settles in the northern zoning of Wavre and if the principle was revolutionary, the development was much less: “It was breaking down all the time and it took us two and a half years to come out with a model that worked properly. It must be said that André (Colens) regularly put a spoke in our wheels. to Husqvarna who were interested in our big machines. At first they weren’t interested but when they saw our numbers growing every year they approached me to buy us out. Our new manager was willing to get us redeemed but for me it was out of the question. “
Patent issues followed with Husqvarna, which filed a complaint against Belrobotics: “Again, I fought back and came up with a system to save our skins.”
Several recapitalizations had to be made to ensure the company’s survival. Finally, it was Walloon investors, notably Pierre Rion, Éric Mestdagh and Laurent Minguet, who took up the torch from Michel Coenraets, now 91 years old.
Belrobotics is currently the world leader in robotic mowers for large areas. The company also relies on its Japanese partner Yamabiko, the world’s third largest manufacturer of motorized garden equipment, particularly interested in robots and their technology.
“We interest them because they know that the future goes through robots, technology which they do not have in the groupPierre Rion told us when we met him in 2019. On our side, they bring us a lot: in addition to financial reinforcement, they participate in the reliability and quality control of our machines and we benefit from their international network.”
More ecological
Since then, the company has branched out into new markets such as the United States.
Concentrated in mechanics, electronics and computing, the three models of Belrobotics robotic mowers – the Parcmow for lawns up to 12,000 m², the Bigmow for lawns up to 24,000 m² and the Ball Picker for pick up golf balls – are used all over the world today. They are used on golf courses, but also on football pitches and grassy areas near airport runways. They are also popular with larger properties in the United States and Australia, where Belrobotics plans to expand.
As a reminder, the use of robots for lawn maintenance has several advantages. In addition to improving the quality of lawns thanks to a mulching technique that nourishes the soil, the robots are lighter than a tractor and do not cause soil compaction. In addition, each hectare of maintenance carried out by a robot mower saves a ton of CO2 per year compared to a traditional mower.
Michel Coenraets has a robot lawnmower that has been running for just over twenty years: “I bought it before knowing André Colens…”.
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